


Instant Ramen and Plumeria

by DroppedAllTheseOreos



Series: The Way Back to Happiness [2]
Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, Gen, Minor Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22171774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DroppedAllTheseOreos/pseuds/DroppedAllTheseOreos
Summary: Kiriya goes missing and all one of CR's leads turn up empty. So, it's easy to imagine Taiga's surprise when he's forced to go to a medical conference in Osaka and runs into Kiriya working at an okonomiyaki shop.
Relationships: Hanaya Taiga & Kujou Kiriya
Series: The Way Back to Happiness [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1595947
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13





	Instant Ramen and Plumeria

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a follow up to Salmon Skins and Formaldehyde where Taiga and Kiriya opened up about Maki and Jungo properly, but Kiriya decided he wanted to yeet himself to Osaka, so welcome to 5,000 words of "a terrible way to cope with responsibility, starring Hanaya Taiga and Kujo Kiriya."

Kujo disappeared one day in 2018, leaving behind his driver, gashats and a somewhat neat stack of paperwork with finalizations on the bugster vaccines with a little note on top that just read "Thanks."

CR was thrown into a state of chaos trying to figure out where he went. The only clue to where he might've gone was Nico mentioning Kujo had all his Genm paychecks sent to one "Akane Matoi" instead of keeping the money for himself. A quick lookup of Matoi's billing address showed she was living in the Naniwa Ward of Osaka. Poppy went into Asuna mode with Hojo and they took the three hour trip to her last known address. Taiga heard they actually met with her and she hadn't seen Kiriya since he came back to visit his cousins during Golden Week back in 2016. She was surprised at his career change to Genm and the checks being sent to her, but she said she was proud of him since he was always such a clever kid. Coding and video games seemed like a nice match for his brains.

When Taiga asked how she was related to Kujo, they blinked and looked at each other with wide eyes. Asuna and Hojo failed miserably to ask any obvious questions, and had no recollection of Matoi saying anything about it on her own. Then, they launched into a story of how they felt so bad for prying and didn't want to get into a long conversation on how they all knew Kujo. If they did, there was the worrying inverse of her asking about their relationship with him, and they were afraid of accidentally mentioning Kujo's disappearance and crushing her. They were especially cornered after she talked at length about how she worried about Kiriya's penchant for getting into trouble, and how thankful she was for his hospital friends to stop by and ask after him because she knew he was in good hands if he was making friends like them at Genm.

While Hojo and Poppy talked out their guilt at avoiding the truth around Matoi and describing how sweet she was, Taiga knew there was something more going on. There always was something more with Kujo.

He dug into Kujo's medical records, thinking with a scoff how Kujo would be proud to know Taiga was doing some "proper sleuthing" as he would say. It didn't take much at all for Taiga to find Matoi listed as Kujo's emergency contact, with "Mother" messily penned in the relation box. No father listed. Taiga figured Kujo must've been a baby from a fling, the father abandoning him and his mother once they found out Matoi was pregnant. And she must've had no inclination to bring him into Kujo's life. No bloodwork, no searching, nothing. It happened sometimes, but didn't explain why Kujo's records listed his last name as such, instead of Matoi. But he figured if Kujo could get his recent documentation changed to say he was six, then changing his last name should've been easy for him as well and Taiga moved on.

There was a bit of a mourning period, especially for Hojo since "he didn't even say goodbye." But eventually, they all moved on with their lives and settled back into a rhythm with the semblance of normal, pointedly ignoring the small Kujo shaped hole gaping back at them. They continued on for a year. The progress on working with the bugster virus expanded and they were starting to equip hospitals outside of Seito and Taiga's with vaccines and game scopes.

In all that time, Taiga barely thought about Kujo, since he was so busy with other things. His hospital had more than just him and Nico working now, and he was still trying to find his feet in leading a team. Even as a radiologist, it was usually just him, or Maki there beside him. Nico had made friends in medical school and hinted she had a friend with a very understaffed clinic that could use some help if they wanted to intern or maybe get a permanent job where they'd get a lot of hands-on experience. And that got them a few nurses and a pathologist. 

They were far from fully staffed, but the hospital was small and they were more than enough for now. Taiga was pretty sure he couldn't handle any more new people even if he wanted to. Because on top of his own work, CR continually wanted contact with him, consulting, needing him to fight new mutations of the virus, or just plain old checking in on him. It was... annoying, but he was growing to appreciate it.

But sometimes, when he had a moment to himself, he would think about Maki. And on rarer occasions when those thoughts wouldn't send him on a spiral of guilt and self-hate for losing the only person that mattered back then, he would think of that night in the restaurant and of Kiriya's forced smile.

In those moments, Taiga wished Kiriya was still around, because he knew how that felt. And in hindsight, he wished they could've talked about it. While Hiiro was similar, he wore his guilt over Momose on his sleeve and Taiga didn't feel comfortable talking with Hiiro about what he had with Maki. It wasn't something he really wanted to talk about with anyone since he wasn't exactly... out.

Nico knew, because of course, she did; she was too nosy and perceptive for her own good. But everyone else? He didn't feel safe talking about it with any of them. Sure, there were others in CR who were out and proud about it, and would want him to talk, to heal. But Kujo was just a perfect storm of being able to understand Taiga without words and having that shared deep-set sorrow of losing something he could barely live without. Losing someone he loved more than anything.

But sometimes he'd imagine how the conversation in the restaurant could've gone. Kujo would stay with him and they'd just talk. Taiga would tell Kujo all about Maki and how he thinks they would've gotten along. Maki had an easy smile and genuine optimism that might've mellowed out Kujo's wariness. But he also had a streak of making fun of Taiga that Kujo would get a kick out of. And Kujo could tell him about who he'd lost. Taiga wondered if he was anything like Maki, or if he was more like Hojo, because Kujo seemed drawn to the pediatrician. They could agree over how much it sucked to love and lose like that but they'd plan to get answers and closure together. When Taiga went down that path, he'd inevitably wonder if Kujo would be here now if they had that talk.

It didn't matter too much since the time for that was long past and Kujo was gone. Taiga was still angry at him for just leaving like that, especially with how upset it made everyone else. But he hoped wherever he was, Kujo was happier.

* * *

With more hospitals getting equipment for dealing with game disease, it was necessary for them to be properly educated, and for that, CR needed to go out and hold classes. Hiiro was already a pro at it by this point, since he'd taken the surgical interns under his wing after the crisis, and he was going out and running a lot of these conferences and classes. However, CR (Haima mainly) was insistent someone accompanied Hiiro to be safe, just in case. Usually it would cycle between Poppy and Hojo, but eventually, Nico got pulled into the line-up. And where Nico went, she inevitably, forcibly dragged Taiga.

Hiiro always insisted he would be enough, and Taiga was adamant about not going since he had a hospital to run. Nico assured him that she and the new team had everything covered while he was away, and they were all talking about how he needed to get out more anyway. The conversation from there out was a blur and Taiga remembers emphatically saying "no" a lot. But somehow, he found himself wandering the streets of Osaka late one night, totally lost and with no clue on how to get back to the hotel.

While he was in the room with Hiiro, he couldn't stand being there. Not because things were still tense between them. Things were much better now. But something about being here and on some big official hospital business made Taiga's skin crawl and feel too tight. He felt like he didn't even deserve to be here. What did he contribute to solving the bugster crisis anyways besides a whole lot of grief and wanting to take it out on everything around him? Legitimately, what could he offer to teach people about dealing with bugster when he was still figuring out the aftermath himself?

Once Hiiro was sound asleep, Taiga snuck out of the room, pocketing one of the keys and started walking until he was well and truly lost. Not that it helped, he felt restless and itchy the whole walk. He blamed part of it for not changing out of his heavy camo pants or bringing anything else to walk around than his combat boots, but he knew it mostly had to do with how he felt like he shouldn't be here. And now he was irritable, lost, and a low growl from his stomach reminded him he was hungry, too.

Strangely, most businesses were closed down at this time, so his eyes were quickly drawn to the only lights still on in an okonomiyaki shop. He made his way towards it, poking his head through the door. A string of bells around the inside handle clanged annoyingly and a voice called out from behind a corner, "We're closed."

Taiga was about to apologize and duck out, but something about the voice made him pause. It sounded familiar but it couldn't be—

"Hey buddy, I'm gonna need you to—" The door slipped from Taiga's grip with another obnoxious bell jangle as Kujo fucking Kiriya rounded the corner, frozen like a deer in headlights with a stack of chairs in hand.

He looked the same, which should be expected because, bugster. But there was something different about him. Something less forced, more genuinely relaxed. Sure, he wasn't as put together as he looked at the hospital, with his hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, and Taiga didn't even want to start thinking about computer code emulating regular bodily functions like that. Kujo wore a black shirt with the restaurant's logo over the left side of his chest, and a white cloth around his shoulders, maybe a bandana to keep his bangs back, which would explain the state of his hair. The rest of his clothes were black too, pants and apron around his waist and even, oh wow, actual covered shoes. This was the most in dress code he'd ever seen Kujo and it was unsettling.

Kujo placed the chairs down and ripped the door open with another burst of ringing, "Hanaya?"

Taiga shrugged, "I'm out here for a conference and I lost my way to the hotel. Also, what do you mean you're not open, it's not that late."

Kujo closed his eyes tiredly, brow furrowing. This had to be the most openly expressive Taiga had ever seen him.

"Hanaya, it's..." He took a moment to check the bright red watch around his wrist and wow that was new, Kujo never wore watches before—" _Seriously,_ it's almost four in the morning."

Taiga just stared blankly at Kujo for a moment, trying to process how much time he'd lost track of. "No, it's not." He found himself insisting.

Kujo squinted at him for a moment, like he couldn't believe what he just heard. Suddenly he was laughing sarcastically and sharply, "Oh right, I forgot, watches are totally obsolete and inaccurate. Lemme get—" he let the door rest on his body as he reached into a back pocket, pulling out a phone and holding the screen out for Taiga to see.

3:57

Oh.

Watching Taiga's expression carefully, Kiriya let out a harsh puff of air, "Do you even know where your hotel is?"

"From here? No."

Kiriya rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, moving his head with the motion. "Which one is it? Maybe I can give you a ride."

"Um... Daiwa Royal—"

Kiriya cut him off with a slightly manic chuckle. "Hanaya, what the fuck? That's two districts over, and you _walked_ here?"

Taiga shrugged. "What do you care?"

"I'm in awe, honestly," Kiriya laughed again. "C'mon inside, I'll drive you back in the morning. You're probably going to Osaka Central if you're doing a conference or whatever?"

"Yeah," Taiga followed him in.

"Since you're gonna be staying, might as well earn your keep," Kiriya gestured to the chairs, "C'mon, help me move these."

Taiga grimaced but did as he was told, moving the chairs to the dining area and pushing them into place as Kiriya locked up and puttered around the bar area of the restaurant. Taiga had so many questions but he wasn't sure what to ask first and most of them were half-formed, so he kept silent. Once Kiriya took a look around and let out a satisfied hum, he nodded and lead Taiga to the back. They went through the storage room and out a door into a hallway. Kiriya made sure the door was locked behind them and led him down the hall to a set of stairs. One flight later had them in another hall lined with doors to different apartment units. Kiriya let him into the unit three doors from where they were and loudly announced "I'm back and I got a friend!" as the door closed behind them. He toed his shoes off, neatly pushing them into place in the row by the door with his feet.

Taiga startled at a woman's voice responding, "Welcome home!"

"What took you so long, kiddo?" The voice came from down the hall, and soon its owner came into view.

This must be Matoi, was Taiga's immediate first thought. The resemblance to Kiriya was strong. She was broader than him, built, but still round and soft in places. Taiga had no doubt she could bench press him, but the height, tan skin, and little dimples Kiriya had were all there on her.

"Got caught up with this guy trying to break in while I was closing up." Kiriya grinned back at her.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes playfully, "And you just let him in our home? Unbelievable, the kind of kid I raised. So?" She turned to Taiga with a playfully stern face, "Who are you?"

"Hanaya Taiga," Taiga mumbled, still trying to process everything that was happening. Did Kiriya really just let him into his actual apartment with his family like it was no big deal? After all this time he spent hiding?

"Hanaya." The woman nodded, "Kiriya's mentioned you before. Not much mind you, so I'll have a sharp eye on you while you're here, got it?"

"Mooooommm," Kiriya groaned, but Taiga caught him smiling, "C'mon, it's okay. He just got lost so he's gonna stay the night before I drive him to his hotel tomorrow."

"I know you, Kiriya, you're trouble, and I have to assume all your friends are too. Until otherwise proven innocent, of course. Now, c'mon, Hanaya, take off your boots so you can get at least some rest."

This woman seemed vastly different from the one Hojo and Poppy described. Maybe this wasn't Matoi.

"Akane?" A low voice called from further in the apartment. "Is Kiriya finally back? What took so long?"

This was definitely Matoi. So then... Ah. It all clicked into place. Kiriya's powers of deception must've come from his mother since she played Hojo and Poppy like cheap kazoos. Poor, sweet woman his ass, this was someone who knew her way around a conversation and he felt slightly more intimidated by her.

Taiga unlaced his boots and set them next to Kiriya's work shoes. He stared at a familiar pair of red and blue boating shoes for a second before turning back to Kiriya's family just in time to see a tall, willowy woman wrap her arms around Kiriya and press a kiss to his sweaty forehead. She grimaced and pretended to spit, making him laugh. Taiga thought he was tall, but this woman just might give him a run for his money.

Kiriya turned back to Taiga and waved him over.

"Taiga, this is my other mom," He gestured to her, and she bowed gracefully.

"Kujo Mayumi, a pleasure to finally meet you." She said in her low, sort of smoky voice.

Taiga wasn't exactly sure what to make of her since she didn't really sound like any woman he'd heard before, but it was soft and soothing. He bowed back politely. "Hanaya Taiga. Nice to meet you, too."

He shot a look at Kiriya hoping his 'you _are_ going to explain yourself to me later' message got through.

Kiriya just grinned back, and gestured for Taiga to follow him. Taiga quickly bowed to Matoi and Kujo and thanked them for letting him stay. They assured him it was no problem, shooing him to catch up with Kiriya, who was already making his way to the end of the hall.

"I'd introduce you to my uncle too, but he hurt his back, so he's probably fast asleep already. Maybe you can meet him over breakfast tomorrow. If you have time, of course."

"You live with your uncle, too?" Taiga asked.

Kiriya nodded, "He helps with the restaurant, too. Kujo side doesn't like him or my moms all that much," he opened a door, "I room with him, so be quiet and stay out here, okay?"

Taiga nodded and watched Kiriya sneak past the bed, carefully opening drawers and taking out clothes and what looked like blankets, throwing them all on a futon on the other side of the room and rolling the whole thing up. Kiriya quickly took the whole bundle and gestured with his head for Taiga to follow. Taiga gently closed the door and padded down the hall to the living room. Taiga noted Kiriya's parents were no longer in the hall and figured they must've gone back to bed, noting a closed door on the other side of the living room. Kiriya flopped the futon down next to the sofa and handed Taiga the clothes.

"You can use these if you wanna. And I'd offer up the couch, but my mom's too tall for it, so you probably are too. So, this is yours for the night," He gestured to the futon.

Taiga shook out the shirt Kiriya handed him, making a face at the Badtz-Maru print on it.

"I knew that shirt would be perfect! You look exactly the same!"

Taiga scowled even harder as Kiriya giggled as quietly as he could. When he finally pulled himself together, Kiriya pointed him to the bathroom and started laying out blankets on the couch. Taiga closed the bathroom door behind him quietly, leaning against it heavily for a few moments. He was exhausted and this was so much.

When he finally felt good enough to move, Taiga changed into the stupid Sanrio shirt, scowling back at Badtz-Maru and at how it was a good fit. God, Kiriya must swim in this thing if he ever wore it. Or maybe it was his uncle's if all the Kujos besides Kiriya were roughly the same height. The only upside to this outfit was Kiriya giving him the softest pair of sweatpants he'd ever felt in his life. He might steal these if he wasn't certain Kiriya would hunt him down and kill him in cold blood if he ever did. They were a bit short for him, only reaching to about his mid-calves, but he'd never felt comfier in his life.

He exited the bathroom and went back to the living room to find a blanket nest laid out on the couch, perfectly lined up and waiting for Kiriya to lie down and wrap himself up in it. The only thing missing was Kiriya. He looked around for the other man when he heard faint humming and chopping noises from a different room.

He followed it to the apartment's kitchen, where Kiriya was cutting green onions, humming something absentmindedly as a pot of water heated on the stove.

"What are you doing?" Taiga fully entered and Kiriya nodded to acknowledge him.

"You came into the restaurant for food, right? I don't wanna do a lot of clean up, so you're gonna have to be cool with instant ramen, okay? Go ahead and sit down."

Taiga's mouth worked uselessly as he tried to think of something to say, but he just sat down silently, watching Kiriya work. He'd changed into a pale pink tank top with watercolor pineapples across it and a pair of dark grey sweatpants that looked similar to the ones Taiga had on. He looked soft and clean compared to his earlier, sweaty mess, making Taiga wonder if Kiriya just costume changed like Poppy to get rid of the sweat.

Kiriya turned to him for a moment, "You don't have any allergies, yeah?" Taiga shook his head and Kiriya grinned, turning back to his cutting board.

They stayed like that, in companionable silence for a while, Kiriya's off-key humming and the dull _thok_ of his knife against the cutting board the only things filling the air. It was calming, Taiga could see himself easily falling asleep in an atmosphere like this, but he was determined to stay awake and get some answers.

"Why'd you just disappear like that last year?" Taiga found himself asking.

Kiriya set the green onions aside into a bowl and went to the fridge, humming and taking out a few things, egg, a couple of plastic containers and a big plastic bag full of beansprouts. Kiriya turned back to him and gestured to all the stuff, "You like all this in your ramen?"

Taiga squinted out of habit, but there was no way he could make out what was in the containers and just nodded, he was so hungry, anything was bound to taste good at this point. If Kiriya didn't want to answer him, so be it. He was here for a while, and now he knew where he lived, he could just come back for answers when they were both more awake... If he could remember how to get back here from the hotel, of course.

Kiriya turned back to the stove, putting the egg in the pot and prepping some of the other ingredients he pulled from the fridge.

"When I finished what I agreed to take on, I realized I didn't want to do anything more. I needed a break." He finally said, still facing away.

Taiga wasn't sure how to respond to that and just waited to see if Kiriya would say anything else. Kiriya fished the egg from the boiling water sooner than Taiga thought it would need, setting it aside to cool.

"I didn't say anything because I couldn't face any of you. Just anything and everyone that would remind me of the bugster outbreak was setting me on edge and any second longer I'd just—" He took a shuddering breath, exhaling softly. "I was tired. It was a dick move, I know. But I couldn't bear to be there another minute feeling like that." Kiriya goes silent then. The sound of kitchenware scraping and colliding took on an anxious tone as they sat in another long silence together.

Kiriya finally turned to him, steaming bowl in hand and Taiga was ready to just dunk himself face-first into it. Kiriya handed him a pair of chopsticks quickly and busied himself with cleaning up.

Taiga almost completely forgot about the serious topic at hand, sighing relievedly at finally getting good food. The noodles weren't great texture-wise, but he could hardly fault Kiriya for that since they were instant kind. Kiriya finished cleaning before Taiga ate half the bowl since he'd taken to just steaming his face, breathing in the delicious scents and relishing in the warm feeling. Kiriya really had gone all out on this instant ramen making up for the poor quality noodles. He'd put in bok choy and bamboo shoots with the green onions and beansprouts, and even heated up some pork belly slices in the broth. The two halves of the soft-boiled egg bobbed gently as Taiga's chopsticks shifted slightly in his daze. Kiriya returned to the table with a glass of ice water, pushing it towards Taiga who nodded gratefully for it.

Kiriya half watched him eat, half stared into some middle distance between Taiga's face and the bowl of ramen. The somber look on his face brought Taiga back to the moment, and swallowing the noodles in his mouth suddenly became all too difficult. Once he finally got them down, he cleared his throat, looking at Kiriya seriously.

"Feeling like what?"

Kiriya chuckled, "See, I hoped you'd forget."

Taiga shrugged, "It's not that I care much, but you seem to want to talk about it."

Kiriya bit his lip, looking down at the table for a few moments, seemingly lost in thought. Taiga turned back to his ramen and took a few more bites before Kiriya spoke again.

"I hated feeling not human." He said just as Taiga noisily slurped from the bowl. They stared at each other in shock before Kiriya spluttered a laugh at Taiga's wide eyes.

Taiga swallowed quickly, feeling his throat twinge painfully as the unchewed noodles slid down roughly. "Sorry," he coughed.

Kiriya kept giggling, waving a hand until he could finally get himself together, "Don't worry, I needed that. The timing couldn't have been better." He snorted and Taiga refrained from glowering. As much as he would've liked to, he'd go easy on Kiriya for now.

Kiriya let out another breath, shuddering with laughter before he sobered up and got back to the topic at hand, his smile only diminishing a little. "Anyways. I know everyone wouldn't just look at me and see a bugster or rely on me because of that. But it got harder to see myself, or any usefulness I had beyond my bugster abilities. Like, I'd lost something when I came back. It's weird to explain but, yeah, it just felt restraining, y'know?"

Taiga's throat finally stopped hurting enough for him to croak out a "Yeah," and Kiriya snorted again.

"It's okay, take your time, man."

Nodding, Taiga took a long, swig of ice water to soothe his throat. After setting the cup down, he took a slow breath to calm his frazzled nerves and finally felt comfortable speaking. "I get like that, too." He said quietly. "I don't know how comparable it is, but it's the reason I was out there tonight. I just felt... I don't feel right being here on official hospital business when I'm barely back on my feet and haven't run a hospital operation proper for six years before this. I don't even know how I'm still walking and I'm just trying to keep the momentum going and now I get thrown here and... This was supposed to be about you."

Kiriya grimaced at him, "Man, look at us. We're two lil' edamame in a shell, struggling with realizing that we're doing better than we think and not shutting everyone out. Though, good on you for sticking with it."

Taiga allowed himself a half-smile, "Guess we are. But, it's okay that you left." Kiriya's jaw dropped and Taiga quickly backpedaled. "I mean, it wasn't okay that you just left the way you did," He glowered, "But I understand, okay? Making people hate you out of some self-sacrifice or thinking they're better off without you. Not wanting to be around anything that reminds you of what happened. What you did wrong or what you lost, humanity, dignity, your reason for living, whatever. I spent five years doing shady medical practice just to throw myself into something that wasn't thinking about how badly I fucked up and focus on some unhealthy goals, I get it."

Taiga gestured around the apartment with his chopsticks, "coming back home without a word to your friends to work in a restaurant is your 'being an unlicensed yakuza doctor.'"

Kiriya shook his head, but his expression was light, "Wow. We have some _shit_ coping mechanisms, Hanaya."

Taiga shrugged with one shoulder, picking up a big clump of noodles, "Whatever works, I guess."

Humming in agreement, Kiriya rested his chin on his hands, slumping his weight into the table. He looked dead tired and Taiga didn't even know bugsters could get sleepy. But, he had seen Poppy looking sluggish after particularly rough shifts, and Parad was always in his weird, little hammock if he had a rough day. He even remembered seeing Graphite look worn out sometimes, so it wasn't entirely impossible. Taking pity on Kiriya, knowing he'd have to get up early to take Taiga back to the hotel, he started tearing into the ramen so they could end the conversation there and sleep.

Kiriya's brow furrowed, then raised quickly when he realized what Taiga was doing. He looked even more exhausted than before, but smiled genuinely when he mumbled, "Thanks."

Taiga decided that was the way Kiriya meant the word when he wrote that note a year ago.

Kiriya tried to take the dishes from Taiga when he finished, but he stubbornly held onto them, storming to the sink and doing them himself. He snapped "you've done enough," when Kiriya tried to worm his way between Taiga's body and the kitchen counter. He finally gave up when Taiga hip-checked him, making him stumble back a few steps. He playfully sneered at Taiga but leaned back on the counter.

"You want me to get you a toothbrush? We have spares."

"Maybe in the morning. I'm too fucking tired to do anything but this."

Kiriya nodded, shoving his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants and waiting for Taiga to finish up. They stood in companionable silence. Something had shifted between them, and Taiga wasn't sure how much of it was the conversation, or Kiriya just being able to be with loved ones and recover. He hoped that whatever it was, it was a change for the better. Once the dishes were in the drying rack, they walked back to the living room together, Kiriya clicking the lights off as they left.

Taiga wanted nothing to do but flop down on the futon but knew that would hurt more than he was ready to deal with, so he carefully knelt down and got under the covers. While he was getting comfy, he watched Kiriya roll himself up in the blankets on the couch tightly. It looked practiced, fluid, like everything he did and Taiga briefly wished he could move through life with that seemingly ineffable air. But watching Kiriya metaphorically tear his chest open and show Taiga a peek at whatever was swirling around in his heart tonight made him realize it wouldn't solve his problems. If anything, it made it harder to reach out for help since Kiriya was so good at acting like nothing was wrong. To the point where he might've fooled even himself for a while.

Taiga pressed his face against the pillow, it smelled fresh and strongly floral. Something sweet to the point of being almost sickly. He breathed in deep before he could even think about being subtle, trying to place what it was. It didn't smell like any flower he'd come across before, and Kiriya chortled from where he was barely visible in his blanket nest on the couch.

"It's plumeria." Came the muffled answer to a question Taiga thought he'd look stupid for asking. But now he just looked creepy. Kiriya seemed too tired to care, though, "Really common in Hawaii, 'nd my mom's from there. Reminds me of better times."

"Which one?" Taiga asked before he could stop himself.

"Matoi side," Kiriya mumbled, sounding mostly asleep already.

Taiga stared at the mass of blankets, watching the line of Kiriya's body move as his breathing slowed. Maybe Kiriya was finally learning to be okay with... well, not being okay and being open about it. He certainly let Taiga in without too much trouble. As much as he resented Kiriya for leaving the way he did, he couldn't hate the way he'd changed in his time away. He buried his face in Kiriya's pillow again, trying to center himself on the sickly sweet plumeria scent to distract from his swirling thoughts. With a few more deep breaths, he found the smell weirdly calming, as he finally passed out for the night.

**Author's Note:**

> The name of the series is a very rough translation of Wakakozake's OP "Shiawase no Kaerimichi (幸せの帰り道)" by Yuuka Ueno as a nod to the inspiration of these fics.


End file.
